by Steve Olson
…a storm is threatening , my very life today, if I don’t get some shelter, oh I’m gonna fade away”
I’ll admit it. I like storms. I like the way the clouds have such texture, the way the wind pushes them across the sky, always in a hurry. There is much to respect in storms of course. Much of our battle with storms may in fact stem from a lack of respect. Still, on the ark, I may have been the guy in the prow with his face fully exposed to the lashing rain and howling winds.
Still, I am less a fan of those storms of the non-physical that batter my comfortable life. Storms too often wreak havoc on our human desires, both physical storms and the storms we face within us. Often in the midst of these dark days we focus solely and soul-ly on the destruction. We fail to see that space is being cleared for new things. We fail to see the great change that God is effecting.
In the midst of the storm grant that the faith which we have already been given opens our eyes to what God is doing. Even as the ark we are in is tossed about in blackened waters by seemingly arbitrary winds we might pause to consider what God is erasing in order to create. In pausing we might even find a calm in the tumult; a resonance with God’s Creative power. In turbulent waters and destruction of things we may have grown too comfortable with is a Creative force.
We have been promised a new Beginning, even in the darkest night the promise shines ahead of us. Noah set out in faith on the word of God. We are promised a Savior, the Redeemer and the Promise of the New. When the winds stop and the waters recede, we find ourselves on Ararat. We are led to the Light in Bethlehem and beyond to Calvary and the empty Tomb. We are reminded that in the darkest storm we will emerge to find that all things are made new. In Love.
“Love, sister, is just a kiss away.”